that was inexplicably hilarious. He started coughing.
The server put her hands on her hips. “Is there anything else I can get you?”
“Yes. Could we please have some vinegar for our fries?” Maya said almost regally, still wearing her poker face.
“And ketchup,” he choked out. He wasn’t as good an actor as she was.
“Of course.”
“And I believe we are going to need some butter, aren’t we, Benjamin?”
He could not speak, but managed to nod even though he couldn’t see anything in front of them that would require butter.
“And possibly some hot sauce?”
She was doing this on purpose, trying to get him to break and laugh. “Yes,” he managed.
The server turned away—he caught her sharing a look with her colleague—and Maya called after her, “And some mayo, too, please!”
He held his breath until the servers were out of sight and, finally, let loose a great big belly laugh. Maya joined him, and it felt like they were allied somehow, the two of them against the world. Which was dumb. All they were doing was ordering too much food.
He eyed the still-laughing Maya, her grin lighting up her face and her honey-cream-ale eyes dancing.
Aww, he was so fucked.
She rearranged the dishes so the steak was in front of him. “This one’s yours. No cows for me.”
“That’s Hinduism, right?”
“Yeah. It’s a bit arbitrary, because we aren’t observant, and my mother is actually kind of vehemently nonobservant, but…” She shrugged.
He wanted to ask more. He wanted to know everything about her, suddenly, about what she believed and why she loved theater and if she ever got scared about the future. It was a bit alarming, actually.
He was distracted from his unsettling line of thinking when she picked up a rib, dragged her teeth along it to get the meat off the bone, and moaned. “Benjamin.”
He had to kind of squirm around in his chair to get comfortable. Watching someone eat should not be such a turn-on, but as was well established, nothing about his cursed attraction to her made sense. “I’m guessing you like the ribs?”
She moved on to a fry, which, hilariously, she dipped in mashed potatoes before putting in her mouth. She moaned again. “You must hire this woman.” She flopped back against the booth, which was upholstered in a royal-blue velvet. Her hair snagged on the texture and fanned out. It was like at his place on their last truce night, when he’d thought her hair looked like a reverse waterfall. It was like…
He didn’t even know. She was the one who was good with words.
“I am overcome, Benjamin,” she proclaimed. “I am overcome.”
He knew the feeling.
“Ugh, I don’t know if I can walk.” Maya’s stomach hurt, but in a good way. “I might fall into a coma on the way home.”
“Let’s walk to the lake.” Benjamin pointed at the walkway that ran from the main street in Bayshore to the beach. “See it from a new vantage point. I’ll stick our leftovers in the car. Be right back.”
Maya started to pivot. It was going to take a while for her overstuffed body to change directions, but she wasn’t going to argue with the guy who’d just picked up the five-hundred-dollar tab for the best food she’d had in ages, maybe ever.
The walk to the beach would be good for them. By the time he was back from the car, she’d gotten herself pointed in the right direction, and they walked past the marina. When they arrived at the beach, he plopped down unceremoniously in the sand.
“Hooboy. I may need a forklift.” She started to sit, and he reached a hand up as if to steady her descent. She looked at it—for a moment too long, perhaps, because he retracted it before she could grab it. She did her best to lower herself gracefully. She wasn’t used to wearing a dress.
“What are you going to do with the grant money in the extremely unlikely event you win it?” he said.
“Not close the theater,” she said automatically. “Oh shit.” She clapped a hand over her mouth. For a moment she’d thought she was talking to Nora or Eve. To someone who already knew she was that close to the edge with the theater. Damn him. He had seduced her into feeling all comfortable with him.
“What?” He turned to face her, and his arm shot out like his first reflex had been to touch her, but he pulled it back before he made contact.
“I mean, I’m going to use it to set up a